Hi Ruquist,
Please have a healthy, happy and safe holiday season. You asked,"My question to Mike is: Why do you wait 20 days to respond and then respond so that no one is likely to see it?"
Here is your reply.

NOVEMBER 9, 2003
At http://www.astronomy.net/forums/god/messages/30194.shtml
I quoted Ruquist (“Yanniru”) and replied. The gist of that post and your response:
At
http://www.astronomy.net/forums/god/messages/30176.shtml
Yanniru wrote:
"When you are dead you cease to exist. That is what mainstream science teaches."

I have never seen any teaching on this from "mainstream science." I did not know they had defined what makes You "You." So how can they decide when "You" cease to exist?

NOVEMBER 10. 2003
At http://www.astronomy.net/forums/god/messages/30199.shtml
Ruquist (“Yanniru”) wrote: “I did not get to read your thread on "artificial consciousnes" as it was hidden when Mike responded to it. Most of us have hidden Mike's posts.
But regarding what mainstream thinks happens to consciousness when you die, I can only offer anecdotal references. (- snip for brevity - ) Here is a link to what Crick thinks about consciousness. He is as mainstream as anyone.
http://www.klab.caltech.edu/~koch/crick-koch-cc-97.html

NOVEMBER 10, 2003
At http://www.astronomy.net/forums/god/messages/30202.shtml
I replied: “So I went to that link Yanniru had provided. There, Crick wrote: ”The main purposes of this review are to set out for neuroscientists one possible approach to the problem of consciousness and to describe the relevant ongoing experimental work. We have not attempted an exhaustive review of other approaches.”
The purpose of the review, then, admit the question is far from settled.
It seems clear that Crick is not teaching “you cease to exist at death” as a conclusion of mainstream science. This supports what I wrote in response to Yanniru, and which he disdained. A few lines down, Crick says something that sounds like Tarvo in its objectivity:

”We can state bluntly the major question that neuroscience must first answer: It is probable that at any moment some active neuronal processes in your head correlate with consciousness, while others do not; what is the difference between them?”

So, if Crick represents mainstream science, what they are “teaching” is that the question
of whether you would “cease to exist when you die” has not yet
been answered by mainstream science.”
Cordially,
Mike Pearson